Justin Bieber Apologizes For Racist Joke Video

Yikes! What a week it has been for the world of pop. Hot off the heels of an incident surrounding One Direction members using offensive language, Justin Bieber is now apologizing for remarks he made four years ago after TMZ posted a video on Sunday.

Thanks to friends and family I learned from my mistakes and grew up and apologized for those wrongs. Now that these mistakes from the past have become public I need to apologize again to all those I have offended. I’m very sorry. I take my friendships with people of all cultures very seriously and I apologize for offending or hurting anyone with my childish and inexcusable mistake.

I was a kid then and I am a man now who knows my responsibility to the world and to not make that mistake again. Ignorance has no place in our society and I hope the sharing of my faults can prevent others from making the same mistake in the future. I thought long and hard about what I wanted to say but telling the truth is always what’s right. Five years ago I made a reckless and immature mistake and i’m grateful to those close to me who helped me learn those lessons as a young man. Once again….I’m sorry.

The video in which Bieber is referring to was shot back in 2011 while he was shooting for his documentary Never Say Never”. In the short clip, he makes a joke asking, “Why are black people afraid of chain saws?” And his punchline? Saying “Run N****r” repeatedly.

But while this may be disappointing to some, you do have to remember that Bieber was very young back in 2011. Heck, he’s still young today! His apology about the video just shows how mature he’s gotten over the years so perhaps we should give him a break and let him focus on what he does best: his music.

Samantha Lui is a writer living in Toronto. When she isn't writing, shooting videos or interviewing people, she can be found alone at the movie theater. You can follow her on Twitter (@samanthalui_) or find out more on her site samanthalui.ca.